People Tell Me That It's A Sin

There’s a new Bob Dylan movie coming out called I’m Not There which looks pretty interesting. The soundtrack came out today (pretty expensive on CD, $16.99 on iTunes), and the track-listing is pretty stunning:

Disc 1
1. Eddie Vedder and the Million Dollar Bashers: "All Along the Watchtower"
2. Sonic Youth: "I'm Not There"
3. Jim James and Calexico: "Goin' to Acapulco"
4. Richie Havens: "Tombstone Blues"
5. Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers: "Ballad of a Thin Man"
6. Cat Power: "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again"
7. John Doe: "Pressing On"
8. Yo La Tengo: "Fourth Time Around"
9. Iron and Wine and Calexico: "Dark Eyes"
10. Karen O and the Million Dollar Bashers: "Highway 61 Revisited"
11. Roger McGuinn and Calexico: "One More Cup of Coffee"
12. Mason Jennings: "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll"
13. Los Lobos: "Billy"
14. Jeff Tweedy: "Simple Twist of Fate"
15. Mark Lanegan: "The Man in the Long Black Coat"
16. Willie Nelson and Calexico: "Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)"

Disc 2
1. Mira Billotte: "As I Went Out One Morning"
2. Stephen Malkmus and Lee Ranaldo: "Can't Leave Her Behind"
3. Sufjan Stevens: "Ring Them Bells"
4. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Calexico: "Just Like a Woman"
5. Jack Johnson: "Mama You've Been on My Mind"
6. Yo La Tengo: "I Wanna Be Your Lover"
7. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova: "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"
8. The Hold Steady: "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window"
9. Ramblin' Jack Elliott: "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
10. The Black Keys: "Wicked Messenger"
11. Tom Verlaine and the Million Dollar Bashers: "Cold Irons Bound"
12. Mason Jennings: "The Times They Are a-Changin'"
13. Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers: "Maggie's Farm"
14. Marcus Carl Franklin: "When the Ship Comes In"
15. Bob Forrest: "Moonshiner"
16. John Doe: "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine"
17. Antony and the Johnsons: "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
18. Bob Dylan: "I'm Not There"

To put a few more band names in there, that list includes people from Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket, Pavement, Wilco, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Byrds, The Screaming Trees, and Television. Wow. I’m writing this before listening to the whole thing, since it’s pretty perfect in my imagination right now. The Million Dollar Bashers seem to be a pretty stellar backing band too - members of Sonic Youth, Wilco, Television, along with Tony Garnier, Smokey Hormel, and John Medeski. Wow again.

It looks like you can actually listen to the album online here.

Saturday is YouTube Day

For a rainy day in Montreal, I typed ‘rain’ into the search box in iTunes. Here’s a few of the results:



Leonard Cohen, 1979. I think you can see Jennifer Warnes singing backup there, too!



Neko Case doing my favourite Dylan song - I think she did this cover both times I’ve seen her.



OK, I can’t resist this for a rainy day in November. How come nobody does epic guitar solos on windswept prairies any more? Maybe I’ve been listening to the wrong music.

LATER: As I realized, and Jay pointed out in comments, it wasn't actually November when I wrote this entry. It's not even November now! I think my head somehow convinced the rest of me that November started sometime near the end of last week.

Back in Blue and Grey

Alright, let’s get back to it. Here are some shows I’ve been to recently, with exciting commentary!

Iron & Wine, September 26, Metropolis

I really should stick to my rule of only seeing bands once unless they’re touring on an album I really love. Last time I saw Sam, he was touring with Calexico, and put on a fantastic show. That first show was a bit uneven though - Calexico played first, firing everybody up, so it was a bit difficult settling back down to enjoy I&W. This time around, a Metropolis fully filled with chairs should have led to a setting more conducive to enjoying I&W, but I wasn’t quite there.

I think we saw one of the first shows of the tour, given that the new album was only released a few days before the show. The band was large, tight, and very professional - it included Leroy Bach (formerly of Wilco!), as well as members of Calexico and Califone. But, like on the new album, I found the more complex arrangements detracted from the arrangements, rather than enhancing them. Most, if not all, of the new album was played, and old favourites like “Sodom, South Georgia” were substantially rearranged. In some cases the new arrangements were really interesting, in others not so much.

The highlight for me was seeing Sam perform a solo version of ‘History of Lovers’ - one of my favourite songs, and the only song from In The Reins that was skipped last time. I’ve always loved the idea that, in the aftermath of a knife-fight, the narrators chief worry is whether or not Louise understands the irony of the situation.

United Steelworkers of Montreal / Two-Minute Miracles / The Barmitzvah Brothers / Ox, October 5, Le Gymnase

A full bill of artists from Weewerk Records. Funnily enough, I think I’ve seen or heard almost every band on that label now. I liked Ox a lot - alt-country in the vein of Son Volt, but a little unpolished. The Barmitzvah Brothers seemed to base their whole show around being quirky, which was interesting for about five minutes. Two-Minute Miracles were very interesting - quiet, haunting songs, with lots of space and silence. The lead singer and guitarist had incredibly long fingers, allowing him to play some really crazy chords on his guitar.

The headliners, The United Steelworkers of Montreal, were a real treat. It was a rowdy, hometown show for them, with a great crowd. Their website bills them as combining “country crooners with outlaw rockers”, which sounds about right - lots of songs about waking up with mysterious tattoos.

The National / Doveman, October 7, Le National

The National at Le National! A fairly subdued show in a really nice venue that seems to be getting a lot more good shows recently. Definitely a strong show, with incredible musicianship all around, but their album Boxer is probably better suited to headphones than a concert setting.

Elliott Brood / The Acorn, October 11, Sala Rossa

Elliott Brood (also on Weewerk) have been one of my favourite discoveries this year - dark, dark folk/country music, mainly driven by distorted acoustic guitars and yowling vocals. What’s not to like? The unfortunate thing about this show was that Elliott Brood didn’t take the stage til 11:30pm, so a lot of the audience drifted away during their set. Here’s a video of one of their more upbeat songs:



Katie Loves Pain, October 12, Thomson House

These guys were alright. They seemed a little uptight during their first set, but loosened up a lot in the second as the drink started to flow. Word on the street is that they’ll be playing again in January, after a few of the members finish their qualifying exams!

Creep In Inn

Some young gunslingers are playing a show tonight? Maybe it’ll be good? I think it will be, but I’m biased.

Radio Silence

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. I do intend to return eventually to this blog, but I’m weathering a bit of personal turbulence at the moment.

While I’m gone, here’s one of my favourite bands (My Morning Jacket), with guest vocals from my favourite singer (Mr. Eddie Vedder), singing one of my favourite songs (“It Makes No Difference” by The Band). Things aren’t so bad.

No dejes que!

Well, last Friday was the first-ever performance of the band I’m a part of - Katie Loves Pain. We played at 3 Minots on St. Laurent, for a crowd of almost 100 people! I was really excited, since it was the first time for me playing music in public in a long time, and the first time ever playing in a rock band. We’d practiced enough so that I wasn’t too nervous, though the pre-show tequila from Xoxo certainly helped. And the mid-show tequila, I guess! I also had an excellent new cowboy shirt, thanks to my new shirt-shopping buddy.

We played mostly covers, and took turns with lead vocals and guitar and bass duties. I played acoustic and electric guitars (finally giving my SG its first real live workout), bass, sang, and got to play drums on one song. I don’t really know how to play drums, but the band is very forgiving. Our encore was totally unplanned, which was fun, but maybe a bit scattered - it turned out Volker and I knew less of the words to “Cortez the Killer” than we thought we did.

Nevertheless, from all reports the crowd had a really good time, and we got an invite to play the bar again whenever we wanted. Shawn’s brother took some pictures which are available here. Maybe more photos (and video?) will surface at some point. If you were there, thanks for coming out! Next time around is October 12 at McGill’s Thomson House.

Here’s the setlist, with the original artists (or songwriters from our band) in brackets. Shawn and Volker contributed originals, the rest are covers.

Set 1:

1. For The Turnstiles (Neil Young)
2. Why Be So Curious (The Sadies)
3. Long Prairie Road (Shawn Leroux)
4. Wrecking Ball (Gillian Welch)
5. Cold-Blooded Old Times (Smog)
6. California Stars (Wilco)
7. Chick In Jar (Volker Bahn)
8. Keep The Car Running (Arcade Fire)
9. On The Bus Mall (The Decemberists)
10. Fake Palindromes (Andrew Bird)
11. No Dejes Que (Caifanes)

Set 2:

1. Le Train (Vilain Pinguin)
2. Murray (Pete Yorn)
3. Miserlou (Greek Traditional)
4. Quand Ca Sera Elle (Shawn Leroux)
5. Creepin’ In (Norah Jones / Dolly Parton)
6. Sweethearts (Camper van Beethoven)
7. Catalog (Shawn Leroux)
8. Sweet Jane (Velvet Underground)
9. Cowgirl in the Sand (Neil Young)
10. Wake Up (Arcade Fire)

Totally Unplanned Encore:

1. For The Turnstiles (Neil Young)
2. Cortez the Killer (Neil Young)
3. Sons and Daughters (The Decemberists)

Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy

September The Fifth (Part I)

Here’s an index to the current batch of written (and yet-to-be-written) Gillian Welch posts:

Written:

• Background on Gillian and David

Yet-to-be-written:

• Uncomfortable albums
• Revelator / April 14th
• Legends and little people
• First lovers, Highways dreamt of
• Wrap-up

Watching Waves, Moving Faders

I was having a discussion about music with myself the other day, and thinking something like “well, Time (The Revelator) is obviously Gillian Welch’s best album, but I find myself listening to Soul Journey and even Revival much more often”. That seemed like a bit of a contradiction to me, so I thought I’d try to explain myself to, uh, myself. I’d like to try to write a series of posts about Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and specifically about the album Time (The Revelator). I’ll start with some background on Gillian and David, and then try to explore a few different aspects of Time.

How do I know Gillian Welch?

Probably from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Gillian sings "I'll Fly Away" with Alison Krauss, and "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby" with Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris. She also has a cameo in the film, as the girl trying to buy the Soggy Bottom Boys single!

Who’s this David Rawlings character?

"We're a two-piece band called Gillian Welch". David plays guitar, sings harmony, and helps write the songs.

What kind of music do they play?

Lots, really, but they’re best known for playing stripped-down folk and bluegrass music, featuring Welch and Rawlings singing in close harmony.

I’m a big guitar nerd. What the heck is that thing David Rawlings is playing?

Me too, apparently it’s a 1935 Epiphone Olympic Archtop.

What else have you got?

• Wikipedia links for Gillian and David
• Their discography at all music
• Their official website, with a helpful biography

How should I get into them?

Maybe start with this video:



And if you like that, check out Soul Journey, then Time (The Revelator), then the rest. It’s probably best to avoid reading too many interviews before listening to the albums. A lot of the material on the later albums is pretty autobiographical, and I always like to think about the lyrics by themselves for awhile before reading too much of the backstory. Alright, enough introduction!

I Thought It Was A Metaphor

Oh God, we’re on MySpace now.

There’s one song up there, that was written by our fearless leader Shawn. It’s called “Catalog”, and I always thought it was an extended metaphor about relationships. He tells me I’m all wrong but I don’t believe him.

Also, I may as well say that we’ll be performing live (live!) for the very first time, next Friday Sept. 14 at 3 Minots on St. Laurent. Come check us out, anonymous internet people!

Also also, this is the 100th post on this blog! Hooray! In a sense, I think it's kind of fitting that it's about our first show.

No 'Stairway To Heaven'

Like Mint and Chocolate Chips

I am back from my top-secret mountain hideaway, so maybe some posts will be written again?

Here’s something I came across while away that made me very happy. Like mint ice cream with chocolate chips, or iced-tea powder on Kraft dinner, sometimes things that are awesome by themselves are even awesomer in combination. So here’s one of my absolute favourite artists, Gillian Welch (with partner David Rawlings) performing one of my absolute favourite Radiohead songs, “Black Star”, at Bonnaroo this year. The recording isn’t great, and the guy recording it is singing pretty loudly at times, but I thought it was pretty cool, with a great solo by David Rawlings.



There’s a torrent floating around of the rest of the set, including a visit from John Paul Jones (!), that can be found at etree. The audio quality is much better than the video above.

Another game my friend Mark and I used to play with live recordings is listening for the different waves of audience recognition - some people will get the song from the first notes, while others won't get it til the chorus. There's three distinct waves of recognition in this one - the very start, after the first line, and at the first chorus.

LATER: Actually, you can only hear the first and second waves in the linked audio version, not the video above.

September Girls

I was looking at my calendar, and noticing not only that September is coming quickly, but also that there's a bunch of cool shows coming too! Here's my list so far - I don't know about tickets prices etc., this is just what's down on my calendar so far:

September 6 - Animal Collective @ Le National
September 9 - Bill Calahan (AKA Smog) @ Sala Rosa
September 14 - Great Lake Swimmers @ Sala Rosa
September 19 - Ryan Adams at Theatre St. Denis
September 19 - Rilo Kiley @ La Tulipe
September 20 - Beastie Boys @ Bell Centre
September 22 - Nick Lowe / Ron Sexsmith / Teddy Thompson @ Club Soda
September 22 - Devendra Banhart @ Theatre National
September 23 - Okkervil River @ Sala Rosa
September 26 - Andrew Bird @ La Tulipe
September 26 - Iron&Wine @ Metropolis

        There is also a tentative show by some young up-and-comers called Katie Loves Pain, that you should all totally clear your calendars for. There are some sucky days with two concerts - the I&W v. Andrew Bird choice is probably the worst one, because I've vowed not to pay to see Ryan Adams again.

        I don't think I'll make all these shows, but I'd definitely be interested in any of them if there are posses to be formed. I think I'll definitely try for I&W, Rilo Kiley, Bill Calahan, and Okkervil River.

That's What She Said

Here's a few photos from the aforementioned camping trip. If you're on Facebook, you can find pictures with people's faces in them! But here's some nature shots.

And You Are Starry, Starry, Starry

Just got back from a totally awesome camping adventure. More to say (and pictures) later, but here’s something else in the meanwhile.

When I got back last night, I was thinking about the shooting stars we saw, and listening to Joanna Newsom explain the difference between meteorites, meteors, and meteoroids, when I came across this:



Um, wow.

Here and Now, Not Forever

...And, it looks like I’m not running out the door right away to go camping, so here’s a bit more on the above video. It’s Eddie Vedder and Tim Finn (brother to Neil) performing “Stuff and Nonsense”, from Neil Finn’s 7 Worlds Collide concert DVD. And I’m realizing I don’t have that much to say, except that I’ve always loved the chorus:

And you know that I love you
Here and now, not forever
I can give you my present,
I don’t know about the future
That’s all stuff and nonsense

The Dark Half

Hey, Stephen King and I have the same taste in Ryan Adams albums, but he’s a much better writer:

I think there are really only two kinds of pop music CDs these days. There are the ones you listen to only once or twice, maybe downloading the single good song to your iPod or computer; then there are others that grow stronger, sweeter, and more necessary each time you play them. Gold was that way; Cold Roses was that way; so was Jacksonville City Nights. I won't say Adams is the best North American singer-songwriter since Neil Young...but I won't say he isn't, either.

He liked Easy Tiger a lot, so maybe I’ll try to spend some more time with it.

Last Chance To See

The Yangtze river dolphin, after teetering on the brink for several years, is now officially extinct.

It Ain't No Trick To Get Rich Quick

Here’s something that’s a little fun, but maybe only funny to me. Since I’ve been trying to do more writing and recording lately, I entered the SA Rockstar XX contest. The challenge this time around was to take a Disney song, and cover it as another artist. I picked “Heigh Ho”, from Snow White, and covered it in the style of Uncle Tupelo.

I usually don’t like explaining jokes, but the ‘only funny to me part’ comes in because a) “Heigh Ho” is a very upbeat song about the joys of hard work and getting rich mining while b) the chords and melody I used are from Tupelo’s “Coalminers”, which is also about mining, but has lines like:

mining is the most dangerous work
in our land today
plenty of dirty, slaving work
for very little pay
coalminers, won't you wake up
and open your eyes and see
what this dirty capitalist system
has done to you and me

So, uh, irony, if you will. Anyways, my entry did alright. In one sense, I got 4th place out of 11 entries, and some really nice compliments. In a more realistic sense, I got about 4% of the votes and was basically statistically tied for last with the 4-11 entries. It was a lot of fun though.

Here’s a clip of the original:



And my entry:



As I mentioned above, it uses the chords and melody from “Coalminers”, which I couldn’t find online, but is on the totally awesome March 16-20, 1992 album. It’s in a minor key, which immediately makes the “Heigh Ho” whistling melody sound completely different. In the spirit of March 16-20, 1992 the entry was conceived and written in about an hour, and recorded in one take - vocals, guitar, and whistling all through my condenser mic.

I Know What You Did This Weekend